The first half of 2014 will not go down as memorable overall for specialties despite a weekend that boasted some star star power against Maleficentand the continuation of X-Men. Kelly Reichardt’s Night Moves opened with single runs in NYC and L.A. this weekend matching up Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning and Peter Sarsgaard as eco-extremists in the Northwest. It came in with a decent $12,050 PTA ($24,100 gross) with sold-out showings from its bow at the Arclight. “We’re very happy with the strong opening this weekend. We anticipate continued critical acclaim and positive word of mouth fueling the expansion into both arthouses and select commercial venues across the country,” distributor Cinedigm noted Sunday. Night Moves will add theaters in Boston, San Francisco, Austin, Seattle and Portland.
Related: Box Office: Disney’s ‘Maleficent’ Casts $68M+ To $69M+ Spell; ‘A Million Ways To Die In the West’ Flatlines; ‘X-Men’ Falls About 64%

Magnolia Pictures opened two films this weekend. James McAvoy starrer Filthand festival favorite We Are The Best! opened in limited runs with slow results. Filth bowed in a pair of theaters grossing $7,500 ($3,750 PTA) while Swedish feature We Are The Best! actually did better with a $21K gross ($7K average). Magnolia was refreshingly honest Sunday and found a silver-lining for Best: “We were disappointed in the opening day’s gross, but we always knew this was an underdog film and very difficult to market. We also knew audiences loved it and it’s gotten some of the best reviews we’ve received in our company’s history. We had an enormous 125% jump Friday over Saturday and we think that the word of mouth is going to keep this film rolling all through the summer.”

In straight PTA terms, Saboteur Media’s doc Korengalby Sebastian Junger won the weekend among reporting titles. Opening exclusively at the Sunshine in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, it grossed $15,145.

Junger self-financed the feature, which is a follow-up to his 2010 Oscar-nominated Restrepo. National Geographic Entertainment opened that film in June of that year, averaging $17,791 in two theaters. It went on to gross over $1.33 million. Korengal will next open in Los Angeles on June 13 before expanding to the top ten markets later in June, followed by a rollout to further top markets as well as cities with large military bases and outposts throughout July and August.

Variance Films/Syndicado’s Elenaopened at IFC Center exclusively, taking in $12,100. The Brazilian doc, which was “presented” by Tim Robbins and City Of God director Fernando Meirelles, is described as a cross between “documentary, diary, and fever dream.” The distributor noted Sunday when reporting numbers: “This is a very special film, and we couldn’t be happier to see it open so well. Twitter and Facebook have been freaking out about the film all weekend, and we expect much more of that to come. We’ll expand to Los Angeles in two weeks, we’re going to take our time with this one to let the buzz build.” Variance Films recently merged with GoDigital to create Amplify, a new distribution label. Amplify’s first releases include Terry Gilliam’s The Zero Theorum, Stuart Murdoch’s God Help The Girl, and AJ Edwards’ Terrence Malick-produced The Better Angels.

eOne opened The Grand Seductionin three theaters. IFC Films’ Lucky Them, meanwhile, bowed in a single theater, grossing a slight $4,500. Starring Toni Colette, Thomas Haden Church and Oliver Platt, Lucky will head to the top 15 markets at the end of June.

Going into its second weekend, IFC Films added 63 theaters for Cold In Julystarring Michael C. Hall, Sam Shepard and Don Johnson. It grossed over $124K ($1,800 PTA) this weekend. It opened in 6 theaters Memorial Day weekend, grossing over $52K ($8,700 PTA) over the holiday weekend. Meanwhile the distributor’s doc Gore Vidal: United States Of Amnesiaheld in two theaters in its second frame, grossing $9L ($4,500 average). It opened with a 4-day $8,800 PTA last week ($17,600 gross).

ABCKO moved its second week holdover The Dance Of Reality into 6 additional locations from its two theater Memorial Day weekend bow. It grossed over $30K for a $3,784 average. The film was the holiday weekend’s PTA winner, grossing just under $25K between Friday and Sunday. Roadside took Words And Pictures into three additional theaters for its second weekend, sustaining with a $6,387 PTA vs its $9,144 opening average. The film grossed just over $83K this weekend. “That is only a 5% overall drop in gross (3 day-to-3-day) on 13 screens compared to the 10 screen opening last weekend. That is good given last Sunday was part of a holiday weekend,” said Roadside this morning. The title will next expand to 100-plus theaters in top the 25 markets on June 6.

RADiUS-TWC’s doc Fed Up passed the $1 million mark, grossing over $161K in 104 theaters in its third weekend. Big TWC’s The Railway Man passed the $4M mark in its 8th weekend, grossing $296K in 496 theaters. And Music Box’s Ida inched closer to a million bucks grossing $235K from 58 runs (up from 34 last week). Ida opened Philadelphia, San Diego, Minneapolis, Dallas and Atlanta Friday, while expanding its presence in Washington, D.C., New York and Southern California. It will add 40 more screens next Friday.